CHUD.com Community › Forums › THE MAIN SEWER › CHUD.COM Main › Watch Julie Taymor Burn Money
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Watch Julie Taymor Burn Money

post #1 of 39
8/14/07 at 2:59am
Thread Starter 
http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=news&id=11422
Reply
post #2 of 39
8/14/07 at 3:05am
No love for Titus then Beaks?
Reply
post #3 of 39
8/14/07 at 3:13am
Thread Starter 
Nope.
Reply
post #4 of 39
8/14/07 at 3:16am
Didn't most of the quotes in that Roth article appear somewhere else, like, a year ago?
Reply
post #5 of 39
8/14/07 at 3:19am
Titus is pretty to look at, but I don't know how much I can speak to it being a good film. Isn't it sort of considered lesser Shakespeare anyway?

As for Across the Universe...I will be sad when it comes out and tanks. What trailer will I get to make endless fun of after that? It's been killing my buzz in front of movies for nearly a year now. It's like a part of me.
Reply
post #6 of 39
8/14/07 at 3:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Prankster
Didn't most of the quotes in that Roth article appear somewhere else, like, a year ago?
"Posted by Nikki Finke on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 06:20PM"
Reply
post #7 of 39
8/14/07 at 3:33am
I really enjoyed Titus, and Frida at least gave us a few topless shots of Salma.
Reply
post #8 of 39
8/14/07 at 3:35am
This sounds like a dare. Take the greatest music in the annals of pop and see how badly you can use it. Seeing how long it's been on the shelf, it must be a stunning disaster.
Reply
post #9 of 39
8/14/07 at 4:04am
It's a dare that's been done before
Reply
post #10 of 39
8/14/07 at 4:13am
I'll probably have to skip this junket due to my overwhelming urge to kill everyone involved.
Reply
post #11 of 39
8/14/07 at 4:20am
And that's why you should go!
Reply
post #12 of 39
8/14/07 at 4:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by devincf
"Posted by Nikki Finke on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 06:20PM"
I still think I read them longer ago than that, but I'm probably confusing it with something else.
Reply
post #13 of 39
8/14/07 at 5:10am
Titus kicked ass. Lesser Shakespeare is like lesser hundred dollar bills or lesser blow jobs. Hopkins gave his last real performance in that. Granted, it kinda something you have to be really in the mood for, but better than watching Ethan Hawke buttfuck Hamlet by a longshot.
Reply
post #14 of 39
8/14/07 at 6:43am
I don't think the trailers for this look any sillier or more disaster-promising than some of the ones I saw for Moulin Rouge, and look how that turned out.
Reply
post #15 of 39
8/14/07 at 8:57am
I like Titus.
I still won't see this, though, because I am sick of movies that jerk-off the baby boomers.
Reply
post #16 of 39
8/14/07 at 10:32am
Lesser Shakespeare? That reminds me of that line in The Squid and The Whale about "lesser Dickens." That was a funny line, too...

Across the Universe will probably be a disater, but at least Taymor takes risks. Jeremy writes as if this is a bad thing, asking "how this thing got green lit," like he'd prefer another shitty, cookie-cutter comedy staring a washed-up comedian or a dog who can't act or bark. Like them or not, you can't deny that Titus and Frida (which was saddled with Weinstein interference) went against the grain, took giant risks and were the products of a visionary mind. We don't have enough directors like Taymor working today. Why are we wishing that she'd "go back to theater" (as if it's a lesser art or something) "with puppets" (based on ONE of her plays, her most succesful production, ignoring her total body of stage work).
Reply
post #17 of 39
8/14/07 at 11:43am
I'm on board with the Titus love. Who knew Shakespeare being trashy could be so much fun?

That being said, this movie does bewilder me a bit. I like the fact that it's risky and I like the fact that it's a musical, but if it's more Joe Roth's vision than Taymor's, I don't really care to see it.
Reply
post #18 of 39
8/14/07 at 11:45am
I was really excited about this when I first saw the trailer, but the more I hear about it, the more it sounds like not even an admirable failure. I actually like Taymor, and think she's got a lot of potential, but she may just be squandering any of it now.
Reply
post #19 of 39
8/14/07 at 11:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary Sherman
Titus is pretty to look at, but I don't know how much I can speak to it being a good film. Isn't it sort of considered lesser Shakespeare anyway?
It was his biggest hit, though. Go figure.
Reply
post #20 of 39
8/14/07 at 11:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrMushnik
It was his biggest hit, though. Go figure.
It was popular in its time, but it was one of his earlier plays, so I'd guess that subsequent plays would have surpassed it in popularity. I've never heard it called his biggest hit.
Reply
post #21 of 39
8/14/07 at 12:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveB
It was popular in its time, but it was one of his earlier plays, so I'd guess that subsequent plays would have surpassed it in popularity. I've never heard it called his biggest hit.
You're probably right, actually. It was a huge hit when it came out, but I always forget that it was one of his earliest tragedies.
Reply
post #22 of 39
8/14/07 at 12:12pm
Biggest hit in his life time. As in, most consistantly performed. This is skewed because obviously it was around longer to be performed than other plays. But people did really like it back then, probably because it has so much violence and revenge.

And yeah, if you take out all the backstage problems Across the Universe has had, the trailer would be enough to make me want to see it.
Reply
post #23 of 39
8/14/07 at 12:16pm
And why is it "as deliciously bad as hoped"? I may think a film is going to be bad, but I don't actively hope for one to be.
Reply
post #24 of 39
8/14/07 at 12:23pm
Eddie Izzard sings "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite". I'm there just based on that. Plus, Salma Hayek's in it.
Reply
post #25 of 39
8/14/07 at 1:00pm
I'm amazed at the outright hostility going on towards Julie Taymour for trying something really different and really out there. It may be terrible, but I'm willing to give something fascianting a chance. Oh and I really liked Titus
Reply
post #26 of 39
8/14/07 at 1:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kingfan
I'm amazed at the outright hostility going on towards Julie Taymour for trying something really different and really out there. It may be terrible, but I'm willing to give something fascianting a chance. Oh and I really liked Titus
I liked Titus, too, but, based on the preview, Across the Universe promises to be pretty far from fascinating. And it's not really all that "different and really out there," considering the number of Broadway shows based on a single artist's catalog (not to mention Moulin Rouge, which didn't stick to one artist, but did much the same thing).
Reply
post #27 of 39
8/14/07 at 1:14pm
I think, and I'm just taking a wild guess here, any potential respect people would have for what Taymor is doing here is sort of nullified by the fact that she's messing with The Beatles. People take that sort of thing personally.

In the trailer, there are definitely some interesting shots. Personally, I'm more offended that, nearly 40 years later, we're still getting the Vietnam era fed back to us in the familiar pattern of "group of free spirited people prance around, enjoy free love, get drafted, war is bad (surprise!), people not in war become protesters, everybody's bitter by the end of the 70's". Do they have nothing new to say?

Also, to me, this seems no better than those obnoxious catalog musicals that bring in all the tourists on Broadway. Somebody's got the rights to all this music and by God, we're gonna slap a story on it and sell it back to you based solely on recognition.

EDIT: Beat me to it, DaveB
Reply
post #28 of 39
8/14/07 at 1:19pm

Villain, I have *done* thy mother.

I'm franky shocked and saddened as the lack of love for TITUS. It's like Shakespeare tailor-made for fans of this site! And Taymor's TITUS was, I think, one of the most absolutely perfect Shakespeare adaptations ever put to film. I put it right alongside Branagh's HENRY V, I honestly do.

TITUS is a work of pure cinematic awesomeness, Tarantino Shakespeare (and I mean that more seriously than you might necessarily imagine), and no matter what else Taymor does, for good or ill, that film deserves respect.
Reply
post #29 of 39
8/14/07 at 2:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Supremo
I'm on board with the Titus love. Who knew Shakespeare being trashy could be so much fun?
Quite a lot of Shakespeare is trashy. That's why it's great.

I dig TITUS. Or did the last time I saw it, about six years ago.
Reply
post #30 of 39
8/14/07 at 2:22pm
I was once in a theater class that likened Titus to a well-written slasher movie. There's not a lot there compared to his later stuff, but if you're looking for violent catharsis, it gets the job done. Of course, the professor was a huge fan of Taymor and her version of Titus. But I really just can't see how this can be anything but a disaster for all involved.
Reply
post #31 of 39
8/14/07 at 2:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by devincf
I'll probably have to skip this junket due to my overwhelming urge to kill everyone involved.
I think I have a Taymor interview @ Toronto, so you can skip, I'll do it and probably even let her live.
Reply
post #32 of 39
8/14/07 at 2:43pm
Seriously I'm really confused what exaclty did Taymour do to some of you. I mean some of you seem to really really hate her.


Also, how is this dissing the Beatles? She clearly like the Beatles music which is why this idea came about I supposed. I don't see how thats dissing the Beatles
Reply
post #33 of 39
8/14/07 at 3:00pm
Frida was also an above average and visually interesting biopic.
Reply
post #34 of 39
8/14/07 at 3:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kingfan
Seriously I'm really confused what exaclty did Taymour do to some of you. I mean some of you seem to really really hate her.
On the contrary, most seem indifferent to Taymor, generally, and a number of us have said we like Titus. This particular movie, however, looks terrible.


Quote:
Also, how is this dissing the Beatles? She clearly like the Beatles music which is why this idea came about I supposed. I don't see how thats dissing the Beatles
No one said she was dissing the Beatles. Gary said she's "messing" with the Beatles. Taymor's intention may be to further glorify their legacy, but if she does a shitty job with their music, does it really matter? Presumably the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton were huge Beatles fans, too, when they made that disastrous Sgt. Pepper's movie.
Reply
post #35 of 39
8/14/07 at 3:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parker
Why are we wishing that she'd "go back to theater" (as if it's a lesser art or something) "with puppets" (based on ONE of her plays, her most succesful production, ignoring her total body of stage work).
Based on THREE of her plays, TWO of which I've seen and rather enjoyed for their inventive stagecraft. But film is a different beast, and she's failed thus far to adapt.

And TITUS ANDRONICUS is lesser Shakespeare in that it's clearly an early, formative work (as is THE COMEDY OF ERRORS). The authorship of TITUS has even been questioned, but these claims aren't taken seriously by the majority of Shakespeare scholars.
Reply
post #36 of 39
8/14/07 at 3:24pm
The trailer promised nude asexual albino girls and a scene with six Salma Hayeks in nurses' outfits. This article doesn't deter me.
Reply
post #37 of 39
8/14/07 at 5:56pm
Quote:
Clarence Beaks And TITUS ANDRONICUS is lesser Shakespeare in that it's clearly an early, formative work (as is THE COMEDY OF ERRORS). The authorship of TITUS has even been questioned, but these claims aren't taken seriously by the majority of Shakespeare scholars.
My point is that lesser Shakespeare is still Shakespeare, the single greatest writer in history. And the authorship of many of his plays have been put into question, but when I hear Aaron the Moor's speech before being put to death, I hear Shakespeare clearly. You can even see early influences that would form greater works within some of the characters, themes and moments in Titus. Clearly not anything close to his best work, clearly aiming for the back room, but it's still facinating and incredibly well written.

And on top of that is the film, which manages to one-up the original text by framing it as a commentary on our fascination with violence and revenge throughout the ages. So I still don't quite understand all this hostility for Taymor.
Reply
post #38 of 39
8/14/07 at 6:02pm
Once again, I think the hate is aimed more at this project than at Taymor.
Reply
post #39 of 39
8/15/07 at 1:55am
The Titus love is plentiful here, I was just surprised Beaks did not feel the same.
I like Shakespeare just about any way you cook it Taymor, Kurosawa, Brannagh, Olivier, MacKellen, Luhrman, or Lion King. And its my favourite Hopkins performance, the scene outside Rome on the rocks as the two sons are excuted and Lavinia is shown to him is just gut wrenchingly great and bad emotionally in the same moment.

As for Across the Universe I will wait until DVD, when perhaps we might see what Taymor really wanted, but he doesn't have the clout of Sir Ridley so we shall see.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: CHUD.COM Main
CHUD.com Community › Forums › THE MAIN SEWER › CHUD.COM Main › Watch Julie Taymor Burn Money